The Muggs At The Prince Of Wales

I wonder if they have two 'g's in their name because the band consists of two guitarists and a drum machine? Anyway, they were playing last night at a fairly quiet Prince of Wales, in Caversham; BlackLin and I went along and had a good time.

The Muggs played what you might term 'light rock' - ranging from Buddy Holly and Roy Orbison, to Coldplay and Travis, via the Eagles and 70's Fleetwood Mac. Not as exciting (for me) as heavy rock, but when I'm there with good company still very enjoyable. They combined an electric guitar with a twelve string, which worked well with this style of music, and their singer was in good voice. The drum machine was only used on some tracks, and wasn't at all intrusive (unusually). As often happens, the band warmed up as the evening went on (or maybe the audience just had more to drink), so by the end there were people up dancing, and I think all of us were tapping our feet.

It was interesting that last night felt like a quiet night at the PoW - there was a reasonable clientele really, but I have become used to Saturday night being busier. But it was nothing like fifteen months ago when the new landlords started doing live music and some evenings there was a brilliant band but hardly anyone there to enjoy it (for instance). If I'd wanted packed I should have gone Friday evening, apparently: the England/Wales game was on the big-screen TV, followed by a young local band, and the pub was heaving. It's really encouraging that such an excellent local community pub is doing well - particularly one that does such good beer and Thai food.

Incidentally, if you happen to have a website link for The Muggs, please let me know and I'll link them, with a picture if there's one available. Google didn't help me because 'The Muggs' seems to be an immensely popular band name.